The first Polish Leopard 2 tanks arrive in Ukraine and western allies step up assistance as the Russian invasion enters second year
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US attempts to win over UN members who are neutral on war in Ukraine
US secretary of state warns peace plan proposed by China draws ‘false equivalence’ by calling on both sides to stop fighting
The US has launched a fresh bid to win over abstaining and neutral states by urging them not to be fooled by Russian calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, warning that a peace plan proposed by China drew “false equivalence” by calling on both sides to stop fighting.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken was speaking at a highly charged meeting of the UN security council where he reminded his fellow diplomats that the Russian envoy only a year ago had dismissed his warnings that Moscow was about to launch an invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Polish Leopard tanks arrive in Ukraine as west piles new sanctions on Russia
Poland’s PM visits Kyiv as allies demonstrate support on first anniversary of invasion
The first Polish Leopard tanks have arrived in Ukraine, as western allies including the G7 announced a range of further economic, military and financial sanctions against Russia, in a renewed effort to weaken Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Speaking on the anniversary of the Russian invasion, Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, confirmed that four Leopard tanks had been delivered to Ukraine. “Poland and Europe stand by your side. We will definitely not leave you, we will support Ukraine until complete victory over Russia,” he said, standing alongside the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during his visit to Kyiv.
Continue reading...‘Victory inevitable’: Zelenskiy addresses defiant Ukraine on war’s first anniversary
President says start of Russian invasion was ‘longest day of our lives’ and urges allies to ‘respect promises’
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has declared victory to be inevitable as his country marked the anniversary of the moment invading Russian tanks poured across its border and missiles pummelled its cities, an event he described as “the longest day of our lives”.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv late on Friday, Zelenskiy said: “If our partners respect all their promises and deadlines, victory inevitably awaits us.”
Continue reading...Western leaders give cool response to China’s plan for Ukraine peace talks
Nato secretary general says Beijing ‘does not have much credibility’ because of failure to condemn Russia’s invasion
Western leaders have largely dismissed a peace plan for Ukraine laid out by China’s government, arguing that Beijing does not have the international credibility to act as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
China’s government called for peace talks while urging all parties to avoid nuclear escalation and end attacks on civilians, in a statement which appeared to maintain Beijing’s stance that the west was fuelling the conflict and which analysts dismissed as anodyne.
Continue reading...BASF to cut 2,600 jobs as energy crisis puts Germany on track for recession
Chemicals company says disruption from Ukraine war, rising costs and inflation will continue this year
The German chemicals company BASF has said it will cut 2,600 jobs as Europe’s largest economy braces for recession triggered by the energy crisis that intensified after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
The year was “dominated by the consequences of the war in Ukraine and in particular by increased raw material and energy prices”, BASF said in a statement on Friday. It paid additional energy costs of €3.2bn (£2.8bn) globally during 2022.
Continue reading...Year of war in Ukraine tests China’s ‘no limits’ relationship with Russia
There are signs Beijing wants a quick political resolution to conflict as its patience with Russia wears thin
Few analysts expected China’s peace plan for Ukraine, which officials trailed all week, to have any concrete measures for solving the crisis. Their suspicions were correct. The position paper published by China’s foreign ministry on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion called for the “sovereignty of all countries” to be respected, without detailing what this meant for Ukraine. In each of the 12 points, the plan reiterated Chinese talking points about the conflict without offering a solution.
The Chinese peace plan is the culmination of a flurry of diplomatic meetings that kicked off at the Munich security conference on 17 February. There Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, presented a bullish front to western officials, denying claims made by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, that China was on the verge of sending weapons to Russia. Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said such a move would be a “red line” for the bloc. Wang insisted China wanted peace.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv and Moscow welcome China’s intervention in peace process
Zelenskiy says some points in Chinese statement for peace ‘understandable’ while Kremlin adds Beijing’s involvement appreciated
In joyful news: the Ukrainian football team that has not played in their home city since 2014, qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa League on Thursday with coach Igor Jovicevic hailing the win at French side Rennes as a “victory for Ukraine.”
AFP reports that Shakhtar defeated Rennes 5-4 in a penalty shootout after their playoff had ended 3-3 on aggregate and then went to extra-time.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 366 of the invasion
Commemorations staged around the world on first anniversary of Russian invasion; Zelenskiy says Ukraine has proved ‘invincible’ over a year of struggle
Continue reading...Moldova dismisses Russian claims of Ukrainian plot to invade breakaway region
Moldova’s government has called for calm after Moscow claimed without evidence that an invasion of Transnistria was likely
Moldova’s government has dismissed an accusation by Russia’s defence ministry that Ukraine is planning to invade the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria after staging a false-flag operation.
“We call for calm and for information to be received [by the public] from official and credible sources of the Republic of Moldova,” the government said in a statement.
Continue reading...UK politicians mark anniversary of war with renewed call to send arms to Kyiv
They stopped short of Boris Johnson’s demand for UK to ‘break the ice’ and supply Ukraine with fighter jets
UK political leaders have marked the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a renewed call to support Kyiv with additional weaponry – but stopped short of the firm commitments on fighter jets demanded by Boris Johnson.
With James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, in New York for a meeting of the UN security council, Rishi Sunak hosted the Ukrainian ambassador at Downing Street, with a national minute’s silence planned for 11am on Friday.
Continue reading...UN calls for immediate Russian withdrawal from Ukraine
Resounding vote before anniversary of war sees 141 countries condemning Russian invasion with seven against and 32 abstentions
The UN has overwhelmingly voted to call for Russia to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine, marking one year since Moscow’s invasion by calling for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace”.
Applause broke out when the result was announced, with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, calling the resolution “a powerful signal of unflagging global support for Ukraine” in a tweet late on Thursday.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war live: UN votes to demand Russian troop withdrawal but China abstains – as it happened
Ukraine’s allies had been seeking to win over countries that have voted against or abstained in previous resolutions
The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said the conflict in Ukraine could last another year, PA news reports.
When asked whether he could see the war continuing for another 12 months, Wallace told LBC:
I think we will. I think Russia has shown a complete disregard, not only for the lives of the people of Ukraine but for its own soldiers. We are sitting here 12 months in and 188,000, actually more now, Russian soldiers are dead or injured as a result of this catastrophic miscalculation and aggression by President Putin.
When someone has crossed the line and thinks it is OK to do that to your own people, running effectively a meat grinder for an army, I think he is not going to stop.
There is already talk, I think, of an eastern European country supplying MiG-29s … We’re not going to see Nato, we’re going to see countries that are members of Nato potentially put in air force equipment or MiG-29.
Continue reading...Russian invasion ‘an affront’, says UN chief, as assembly meets on Ukraine
UN general assembly debates motion calling for unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine on anniversary of war
UN secretary general António Guterres has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an “affront to our collective conscience” as the 193-member General assembly meets ahead of a vote that the US said would “go down in history.”
Speaking on Wednesday during a special session of the general assembly, Guterres called the anniversary of Moscow’s attack “a grim milestone for the people of Ukraine and for the international community.”
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 365 of the invasion
Biden says Putin made ‘big mistake’ in pulling out of nuclear arms control treaty; Two die in Kherson shelling
Continue reading...RT videos spreading Ukraine disinformation on YouTube despite ban – report
The platform banned the Russia-controlled publication last year for its Ukraine falsehoods, but its content is still posted on various channels
Hundreds of videos produced by the Russia-controlled publication RT have found their way on to YouTube in the past year, despite the platform’s ban of such media last year.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, banned all Russian state-funded media from its platform globally in March 2022, citing a policy barring content that “denies, minimizes or trivializes well-documented violent events” as Russia sought to guide the narrative on its war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...‘Big mistake’: Biden condemns Putin’s withdrawal from nuclear treaty
‘You’re the frontlines of our collective defense,’ Biden tells Bucharest Nine group of eastern European countries on last day of trip
Joe Biden on Wednesday night condemned as a “big mistake” Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to suspend his country’s participation in the last remaining US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty.
The comment came as the US president closed out his wartime visit to Europe, working to shore up partnerships with allies on Nato’s perilous eastern flank – even as Putin was drawing closer to China for help as his invasion of Ukraine neared the year mark.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war live: Biden promises US will defend ‘every inch of Nato’; China will play ‘constructive role’ in crisis, says diplomat
Joe Biden speaks with leaders of Nato’s eastern European members in Poland after Vladimir Putin meets Wang Yi in Moscow
The UN general assembly meets today, two days ahead of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Kyiv and its allies hoping to garner broad support for a resolution calling for a “just and lasting peace.”
The draft resolution, sponsored by 60 countries, is to be voted on after the close of debate – not expected until at least Thursday.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 364 of the invasion
China’s top diplomat meets Vladimir Putin in Moscow; Biden meets leaders of Bucharest Nine; Ukraine seeks extension to Black Sea grain deal
Continue reading...EU states urge crackdown on Russia over sanctions-evading arms ploy
Moscow accused of attempting to source weapons parts through front companies in neighbouring states
A group of 10 EU member states have called for a crackdown on Russia’s attempts to source military parts through front companies in neighbouring countries, thereby evading western sanctions.
The 10 countries, which include France, Germany, Italy and the Baltic states, write that “2023 must be the year of success in countering circumvention”, warning that public support and international legitimacy of sanctions could wane if they are deemed ineffective.
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